Formula One magnate Bernie Ecclestone admits finding the opening day of his German trial stressful as he faced bribery charges which threaten to land the British billionaire in jail.

“It was an exhausting first day. The judge, the prosecutors and my lawyers all speak German, I don’t,” Ecclestone told German daily Bild from his London office after his first court date in Munich on Thursday.

“Although I had an interpreter translating every word simultaneously, it was still stressful to follow everything as it was being said.” Ecclestone flew back to Britain after hearing

five hours of opening arguments with the prosecution’s indictment covering 24 pages, while the defence’s statement was 91 pages long.

But despite the marathon hearing, the octogenarian still managed to banter with judge Peter Noll. “Why not?”, Ecclestone told Bild.

“The court and the prosecutors are all nice people just trying to do their jobs.” The Briton’s next court date is scheduled for May 2.

The 83-year-old is accused of paying German banker Gerhard Gribkowsky $44 million (32 million euros) to ensure his continued grip on the motor sports empire he had built up over four decades.

The cash changed hands eight years ago when a German corporate bankruptcy had left several banks in charge of major stakes of the Formula One enterprise.

Gribkowsky was then risk manager of one of the banks, Germany’s BayernLB. Prosecutors charge that the money was a bribe meant to ensure that BayernLB sold its shares to Ecclestone’s preferred bidder,

CVC Capital Partners of Britain, now the sport’s majority shareholder. Ecclestone faces a maximum jail term of 10 years if he is found guilty. The case centres on whether Ecclestone bribed Gribkowsky,

who has since been jailed, or — as the defence claims — hush money after a blackmail attempt. Ecclestone’s lawyer has dismissed the allegations as “inaccurate, misleading and unsubstantiated

” and said “the alleged bribery did not take place”. The F1 boss does not intend to speak for now in the trial, which is set to run until September, but has said he will reply when Gribkowsky

gives evidence against him, which is scheduled for May 9.

Now you decide is he a thief? I think he became one at one point,but regardless of what we think, is time for him to go.

To many politics, to much money, to many bad decision in F1.

This is a great sport that is becoming a farce.

Drivers open their mouth to say Stupid things, like Hamilton, Rosberg, Button and a few others.My advise to them is: Take care of your self and stop talking about others that are way better then you.

Who in their right mind, doe snot want one, Move aside Ferrari, a better exotic as arrived to the market, Slick, Awesome, Aggressive, Yes it is all that and more.

This exotic is probably one of the fattest if not the fastest in his kind, not only that is cost a portion of the Pagani.

Very responsive, quick, nimble and elegant, if we can call this automobile elegant, because is more then that, but one thing this automobile is: definitively a real monster, a beauty exclusive to only some of us. A dream come thru

Airbags

Now let us go to the important areas of this beast, the heart, the spirit of it, this automobile is a GOD. Yes you have heard well, 700 HP. Torque 507 LBFT. 0 to 60 in 2.9 Seconds, do you think you can drive one, do not hesitate, if you have the means, this is the best of the best. and everybody will see you coming even if they cant see you, why, you ask, if you do, you have never seen one or have seemn one driving next to you, the answer is the exhaust note if like lessoning to Mozart symphonies. AHH yes, what s sound! And the bonus unbelievable gas mileage for this type of automobile.

In 1967, two automotive engineers with a passion for motorsports began fine-tuning engines for Mercedes-Benz racecars in an old mill. Today, as the performance division of Mercedes-Benz, AMG creates some of the most sought-after vehicles in the world. They’re the product of skilled craftsmen, designers and engineers who live to test the limits, and one shared conviction: on the road to driving performance, short cuts never win the race.

A fine moment

SOME THINGS CAN’T BE MASS-PRODUCED.

From the beginning, the “One Man, One Engine” philosophy has guided AMG’s approach to manufacturing. Even now, every AMG engine is hand built from start to finish by one of about 50 AMG Master Engine Builders in a special facility.

As the final step in the assembly process, the engine-maker affixes a plaque engraved with his signature to the engine cover. It’s an enduring reminder that even the heart of a Mercedes-AMG has a soul.

I love this cars, but I do have an issue with them, for a real drivers they are no fun to drive at all at speed, they have to many electronics that stop any good driver to enjoy the car, you cannot put this beautiful machines side ways or mistreat it somewhat a little, the electronics come in and stop you from having all the fun.

I love to have one with out any of the electronics that limits us to really drive this cars, I do understand that they make their car safe for 90% of the drivers with are average drivers, but for somebody like me that is a race car driver when young and now vintage car racers its limiting the fun.

Also some of this spectacular automobiles are not very well balanced if you have the traction control off and really drive the car, the SLR is nose heavy and the rear gets loose very quickly, but at the end is more fun to drive this monster without it, if you own one and you are not a good driver, and I mean a good driver, do not drive this beast crazy fast without the traction control, because it does become a hands full to drive if you are not an excellent driver and even if you are one. Man, it was awesome to drive, Next? I wan to drive the Mercs CLA 4.5, what a pretty car and probably a great toy to own, 355HP, 2.0 turbo engine, Yes I want one. It is the perfect size car for today driving and what a performance, so why do I want one, because it is simple awesome.

The 355 HP CLA45 AMG 4MATIC

The most powerful engine of its kind on earth, the AMG 2.0-liter turbo inline 4 employs twin-scroll turbocharging to deliver higher performance with lower consumption

What can we say of one of the most exotic brands of automobiles in the world.
They new lineup is aggressive, sexy looking and the exhaust note, yes, the exhaust note is unbelievable.

Maserati (Italian pronunciation: [mazeˈraːti] is an Italian luxury car manufacturer established on December 1, 1914, in Bologna. The company’s headquarters are now in Modena, and its emblem is a trident. It has been owned by the Italian car giant Fiat S.p.A. since 1993. Inside the Fiat Group, Maserati was initially associated with Ferrari S.p.A., but more recently it has become part of the sports car group including Alfa Romeo.

Maserati has a long history, that is manufacturing high end automobiles or racing. Actually they have just reach their 100 year anniversary, congratulations.

My self I owned a beautiful Merak SS, Silver / Black, 6 Cal 4 cam. and 2 Quatroportes 1987 and 1988, And Also I owned a Biturbo Sand convertible, they where the ugly ducklings, but when they worked they where very fast. The turbos failed often, till I decided to replace all of them, then a miracle occurred, they run and run with no problems.

Maserati started A year-long celebration beginning today will mark Maserati’s Centennial, a century of success lived to the full in the spirit of “The Absolute Opposite of Ordinary

A FAMILY PASSION

The Maserati story is first of all the story of a family: Rodolfo Maserati, a railroad worker during Italy’s period as a monarchy, Carolina Losi and their 7 children. In those days, working near the “iron steam horse” wasn’t for everyone. Rodolfo is, in a certain sense, a man of the future: the Maserati brothers inherited their passion for speed from him. By the turn of the new century the family is complete: the youngest son Ettore is born in 1894, whilst the eldest son Carlo, born in 1881, has already begun his career.

The Maserati brothers, Alfieri, Bindo, Carlo, Ettore, and Ernesto were all involved with automobiles from the beginning of the 20th century. Alfieri, Bindo and Ernesto built 2-litre Grand Prix cars for Diatto. In 1926, Diatto suspended the production of race cars, leading to the creation of the first Maserati and the founding of the Maserati marque. One of the first Maseratis, driven by Alfieri, won the 1926 Targa Florio. Maserati began making race cars with 4, 6, 8 and 16 cylinders (two straight-eights mounted parallel to one another). Another Maserati brother, Mario, an artist, is believed to have devised the company’s trident emblem, based on the Fontana del Nettuno, Bologna.

Alfieri Maserati died in 1932, but three other brothers, Bindo, Ernesto and Ettore, kept the firm going, building cars that won races.

Orsi ownership

In 1937, the remaining Maserati brothers sold their shares in the company to the Adolfo Orsi family, who in 1940 relocated the company headquarters to their hometown of Modena where it remains to this day. The brothers continued in engineering roles with the company. Racing successes continued, even against the giants of German racing, Auto Union and Mercedes. In back-to-back wins in 1939 and 1940, a Maserati 8CTF won the Indianapolis 500, the only Italian manufacturer ever to do so.

The war then intervened, Maserati abandoning cars to produce components for the Italian war effort. During this time, Maserati worked in fierce competition to construct a V16 town car for Benito Mussolini before Ferry Porsche of Volkswagen built one for Adolf Hitler. This failed, and the plans were scrapped. Once peace was restored, Maserati returned to making cars; the Maserati A6 series did well in the post-war racing scene.

Key people joined the Maserati team. Alberto Massimino, an old Fiat engineer, with both Alfa Romeo and Ferrari experiences oversaw the design of all racing models for the next ten years. With him joined engineers Giulio Alfieri, Vittorio Bellentani and Gioacchino Colombo. The focus was on the best engines and chassis to succeed in car racing. These new projects saw the last contributions of the Maserati brothers, who after their 10-year contract with Orsi expired went on to form O.S.C.A. This new team at Maserati worked on several projects: the 4CLT, the A6 series, the 8CLT, and, pivotally for the future success of the company, the A6GCS.

The famous Argentinian driver Juan-Manuel Fangio raced for Maserati for a number of years in the 1950s, producing a number of stunning victories including winning the world championship in 1957 in the Maserati 250F alongside Toulo de Graffenried, Louis Chiron, Prince Bira, Enrico Platé, and a few others. Other racing projects in the 1950s were the 200S, 300S (with several famous pilots, among them Benoit Musy), 350S, and 450S, followed in 1961 by the famous Tipo 61.

Maserati had retired from factory racing participation because of the Guidizzolo tragedy during the 1957 Mille Miglia, though they continued to build cars for privateers. After 1957, Maserati became more and more focused on road cars, and chief engineer Giulio Alfieri built the 6-cylinder 3500 2+2 coupé, which featured an aluminum body over Carrozzeria Touring’s superleggera structure, a design also used for the small-volume V8-powered 5000. Next came the Vignale-bodied Sebring, launched in 1962, the Mistral Coupé in 1963 and Spider in 1964, both designed by Pietro Frua, and also in 1963, the company’s first four-door, the Quattroporte, designed by Frua as well. The two-seat Ghibli coupé was launched in 1967, followed by a convertible in 1969.

Also for many of you that did not know, at one point or another Maserati was also own by Citroen, De Tomaso, Fiat, then in July 1997, Fiart sold 50% of ownership to Ferrari. Which was Maserati archenemy for years. In 1999 Ferrari took 100% control of Maserati. IN 2002 Maserati came back to the US, but In 2005 Maserati was split off from Ferrari and merged with Alfa Romeo under Fiat Auto

Congratulation Maserati, from a great fan and I leave you with this. Forza Italia….

Been a exotic car lover, I could not pass to share this monster of an automobile.

Saw “it” and I taught it was a Lotus, but of course it was not, it was a Hennessy Venom, After analyzing this machine and getting some information, I realize that only 10% remained of the original Lotus Design and 90% of this monster machine was actually a “real monster.”

Why a monster, well just read the stats, then you can tell me. Basically this is the fastest automobile in the world in any class, and yes a beautiful one.

Not only that, look at it, it is Beautiful, aggressive and look so fast even standing.

I want one, that is for sure. Let me win the lottery first, Well dreaming is free isn’t it?

By: Patrick C. Paternie Copyright 2010, duPont Publishing, Inc.

The Venom GT may bear some outward resemblance to the Lotus Elise, albeit on steroids, but don’t let that fool you. It may not look like the hulking mega horsepower muscle cars that one expects to see rumbling out the doors of Hennessey Performance’s Texas garage, but this Brit-built car still identifies with heavyweight boxing gloves rather than string-back driving gloves.

It’s more than the outward appearance that differs from past Hennessey vehicles. John Hennessey proudly explains a new weight shaving philosophy guided the three years of engineering development that admittedly uses some Lotus sourced bits but features a vastly different chassis and suspension.

Hennessey’s opening shot with production Venom GT serial #01 recently rolled out of the Silverstone, England production facilities headed for its excited new owner in the Middle East with a twin turbo LS-series Chevrolet V8 sitting amidships that pumps out 1200 horsepower and 1135 lb-ft of torque. A Ricardo 6-speed manual transaxle (as used in the Ford GT) puts the power to the rear wheels. Weighing in at 2685 pounds gassed up and ready to go, the Venom GT can propel itself from 0 to 62 mph (100 km/h) in under 2.7 seconds. In 14.9 seconds it will streak past 187 mph (300km/h) on its way to hit 267 mph in sixth gear at 6600 rpm. That, by the way, is well shy of the engines 7200 rpm redline.

Very impressive stats, but do a little math and you will get an even more astonishing number – a power to weight ratio of 2.4 pounds per horsepower. Remember this is a street legal vehicle not a stripped down racer. By comparison Porsche’s latest Weight Watchers track day special, the lightweight 2011 911 GT2 RS justifiably boasts of 620 horsepower and a power to weight ratio of 4.9 lbs/hp.

‘Less’ is certainly not a word you would normally expect to come up in a conversation with a man who specializes four figure horsepower denominations. Hennessey Performance catalogs an 1,100-horsepower twin-turbo Viper that was top dog in a highly publicized super car shootout by launching from 0 to 200 mph in 20.3 seconds leaving Bugatti Veyron 16.4 gasping in its wake almost four seconds behind.

It was during that record breaking assault on the 200 mph mark that Hennessey experienced the epiphany that led him to shift his angle at the top speed barrier for a street driven performance car from horsepower to weight.

“Less is more,” exclaims Hennessey. “I was thinking a few weeks after that event that we can always add more power, but what is holding us back is the weight of the car. The Viper weighs about 3600 pounds.”

Hennessey has built race cars with engines producing 1200-1500 horsepower, but to make that kind of power requires 100 and higher octane racing gasoline. He wants to build something that would run on what he calls ‘pump gas’ – the 93 octane premium available at most service stations.

Using turbochargers to boost power allows Hennessey to lower the compression ratio for the compatibility with pump gas. Horsepower wasn’t the issue as much as how much weight these horses had to shove around.

One more and if you decide to buy one, pricing starts at $ 725,000.00++ and is a close distance to travel, as they are located in Texas.